How Long Does It Take To Get Pregnant?

How Long Does It Take To Get Pregnant?

So your toddler is becoming more and more independent by the day and you’ve started looking longingly at newborn baby clothes again. Yup, you want another baby and are wondering how long it will take before you get pregnant.

The time it takes to get pregnant is different for each couple so how long does it take to get pregnant is a difficult question to answer.

Your health, lifestyle and age are all important when you start trying for a baby as you know. Eating organic and being as healthy as you can will help hugely.
Just because you got pregnant first time really quickly, it doesn’t mean to say it’ll be so quick this time however.

It’s worth remembering that if you have regular sex without protection:

25% will conceive in the first month

60% within six months

75% within nine months

80% within a year

90% within 18 months

So if you are under 35 and have had sex every few days without protection for a year and still aren’t pregnant, it’s probably time to seek medical help. If you are over 35, you should ideally seek medical advice after six months of trying.

However, timing sex around ovulation will improve your chances of getting pregnant.

When Do I Ovulate?

If you know exactly when you ovulate there’s more chance of conceiving because your fertile window is made up of only a few days each month when pregnancy is possible. Sperm can survive for a maximum of five days inside a woman and your egg survives for one day. This means that your fertile period is around six days long – from five days before you ovulate and one day after. Pregnancy is possible on any one of these six days but your chances will increase if you ‘do the deed’ on the three days immediately leading up to and including your ovulation day. So this means you have a practical fertile window of just three days. Not long really, is it?!

Ovulation usually happens 10 to 16 days before the start of your next period, so it is easier to work out when you are most fertile if you keep a track of your cycle for a few months. There are loads of great ovulation tracker apps out there to download. If you have a regular cycle that averages 28 days you can count back from the end of each cycle and predict ovulation at somewhere between 12-14 days.

Other common fertility problems which can affect how long it will take to get pregnant are: Ovulation problems, Endometriosis, Uterine Fibroids or Polyps. Surprisingly perhaps, the environment can also have an impact. Leading a sustainable lifestyle can only help.

It is perfectly normal for couples to take up to a year to conceive so don’t worry too much if you are a few months in and nothing seems to be happening. It goes without saying though that the healthier you are, the more likely you are to conceive. One of the common reasons for infertility in the UK is your weight so try to keep within a healthy weight range.

Enjoy the trying and don’t make an issue of the whole ‘ getting pregnant” thing. Before you know it, you’ll be ordering those tiny organic baby grows and wrapping your newborn in his or her bamboo swaddling baby blanket! Good luck!